Pakistan's Test and One-day captain, Misbah-ul-Haq has said his teammates will have to take the wickets of the stalwarts like Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara early if they want to win the upcoming two-Test series in Sri Lanka, commencing at Galle on August 6.

Jayawardene, 37, has announced that he would retire from Test cricket after the two-Test series this month, and is hoping to have a memorable farewell series.

"Obviously you have to take 20 wickets to win a Test match and we will try to do that. But we also know how important it is for us to not allow their senior players to get runs," Misbah told reporters before the national team's departure for Sri Lanka.

"If we are to win the series then we have to ensure their players don't score runs, particularly guys like Jayawardene and Sangakkara," he added.

Misbah said while he his and teammates have a lot of respect for Jayawardene, they would be targetting the senior batsman during the series.